Could someone here tell me the difference between an Hobbyist and a Artist???
That would be interesting.
Cheers!
Income.
-ThrallMind
Could someone here tell me the difference between an Hobbyist and a Artist???
That would be interesting.
Cheers!
Income.
-ThrallMind
So an artist is defined by how much money he makes?
That seems more to me like the business side of magic than the art.
No, that would be hobbyist and professional. There are professional artists and amateur artists. They're both artists, one makes money, the other doesn't.Income.
-ThrallMind
So an artist is defined by how much money he makes?
The textbook definition of an amateur is one who does not practice a skill professionally. This has been brought up several times, but apparently nobody is bloody listening because they thing that amateur is a derogatory word. Given some of the reactions I've seen to the word, one would think it was a racial epithet.
I am an amateur cook. I do not make any money from cooking my own meals. Not a dime. And I'm okay with that. The fact that I am an amateur cook is not a bad thing, nor does it define me as a person.
A second definition of amateur is one who is unskilled. Again, I don't take that as being negative. To me, the second definition reflects a person who has not begun the road to mastery and may not wish to take that road at all. That's fine.
I fiddle with DIY projects a little so that I can make my own props. I'll never be as good at that as Hollywood art directors and prop teams, and that's fine. I don't need to take the path of mastery on that one, I only need my skills to be adequate for my personal purposes.
Why is it that being called an amateur must be taken as an insult?
I'm probably going to avoid this topic for a while from this point on as you're all starting to talk about what defines an artist versus a hobbyist or amateur, and when a topic like that comes up the pretentious levels go through the roof and there's enough flames to start a raging forest fire.
Steerpike, whilst I agree with most of your comments, I don't think it's correct to say that there's much flaming here, that would be a generalisation, at least in this topic.
The reason why being called an amateur is taken as an insult is because people take the second definition of yours to heart, and generally do take it as a negative connotation firstly because judging and being judged is extremely prominent and secondly because we're self-important by nature, and the definition implies a value judgment. Hence we disregard the fact that it doesn't have to be negative, but choose to read it in that way.
I can't be held reponsible for the fact that everyone takes things way too personally.
I have to wonder if this would be less of a problem if people on the road to mastery (or at least imagined they were like some here I could name) would stop treating people lower on the totem pole than them with disdain and scorn. Of course, telling such magicians to stop acting like children is like trying to teach algebra to a ferret.
OMG it's the crotch flaming guy from America's Got Talent!
There is a difference between being an amateur and acting amateurishly.
An amateur is a magician whose main source of income is not from magic.
A professional is a magician whose main source of income is from magic.
You could be an incredibly talented magician, even better than many professionals but if you don't make a living with magic you're an amateur.
Somebody who tries to learn hundreds of effects but never learns any of them well is a bad magician. Amateur would not be the correct term.
Can you really split/define an artform into professional and amateurish?